Lords attack Blair over Kyoto

Tuesday 29 June 2004 22.21 EDT
First published on Tuesday 29 June 2004 22.21 EDT

Tony Blair today comes under criticism from a group of scientists and diplomats for failing to use Britain's "special relationship" with the US to put pressure on US president George Bush to ratify the Kyoto protocol.

The intervention is made by peers on the cross-party House of Lords science and technology committee, whose members demand that Britain redouble its efforts to persuade Mr Bush to change his mind on climate change.

They include Lord Wright of Richmond, a former head of the Foreign Office; Lord Hunt of Chesterton, a former chief executive of the Met Office; and Lord Mitchell, an IT entrepreneur.

The committee's report, published today, says that the government should "take further steps at the highest levels to persuade those governments which have not yet done so to take action to address the problem of climate change, and in particular to ratify the Kyoto protocol".

Mr Blair recently declared he would place global warming at the heart of his chairmanship of the G8 next year.

The Lords' carefully phrased criticism came as the government admitted that the "grim reality" of climate change is beginning to alarm ministers. Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, says in an interview with the Guardian today: "I think there's a greater perception now that it's actually happening."

Ms Beckett said much was riding on the government's ability to push ahead. "We are seen as people who really care about this, and therefore if people expect us to create a greater momentum, and then if we are unable to do so, that would cause a lot of alarm."

The Lords committee warns that the Kyoto protocol is meaningless unless the US, the world's largest polluter, ratifies the 1997 agreement. This calls on industrialised countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 2008-12.

Britain believes there are two key steps towards persuading the US to ratify the protocol. Firstly Russia, which is responsible for 17% of greenhouse emissions, should be persuaded to sign up - a goal which came a step closer last month when Vladimir Putin appeared to reverse his opposition to the measure.

If Russia signs up, Britain hopes this would put intense pressure on the US to follow suit. As the world's largest polluter, the US is responsible for 24% of all greenhouse emissions. The protocol comes into force when 55 countries, which must include developed countries responsible for at least 55% of carbon dioxide emissions, ratify the measure.

Peers on the Lords science and technology committee made clear they are impatient with such a cautious approach. Baroness Walmsley, a Liberal Democrat peer, said: "We don't appear to have had any positive influence in that direction [with the US]. We weren't impressed that a 100% effort was going into it. That is why we felt it might be helpful, and sort of put lead in their pencils, if we encourage them to do more."

But peers were impressed by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, who warned that global warning posed a greater threat than al-Qaida. Sir David told the committee he planned to express his contempt for US objections to the Kyoto protocol during a visit to Seattle due to take place a month after he gave evidence in January.